Neil J. RubenkingKaspersky PURE 3.0 Total SecurityKaspersky PURE 3.0 Total Security includes every security component you can imagine, most of them very good. Some might even prefer it to Norton 360, our current Editors' Choice for mega-suite.

Kaspersky PURE 3.0 Total Security includes every security component you can imagine, most of them very good. Some might even prefer it to Norton 360, our current Editors' Choice for mega-suite.

Decent Protection Against AttackAs noted, I recently replaced my malware collection with a new set of samples. Kaspersky PURE and avast! are the only products that have been tested with this new set. Both of them detected 86 percent of the threats, but not the same 86 percent. And both scored 8.5 points for malware blocking.

The previous edition of Kaspersky PURE scored 8.4 points against my previous malware collection, almost the same as in the current test. Webroot scored 9.9 points against that collection, while SecureIT Plus (2013) came close with 9.7 points. In the past I've broken out a separate score for rootkit blocking, but my current collection just doesn't include enough rootkits to merit a separate score.

When I tried to download my malware collection again, Kaspersky's Web antivirus component blocked access to 74 percent of those still having a valid URL. Combining URL-level protection with blocking after the download began, avast! managed 88 percent. Comodo blocked 100 percent of the URLs pointing to my previous threat collection, most of them during the download process.

Praise from Independent LabsKaspersky's antivirus technology definitely scores better with the independent labs than it did in my tests, enough so that I've raised its sub-ratings for malware protection. ICSA Labs and West Cost Labs both certify Kaspersky for antivirus detection and removal; West Coast Labs has also awarded it Platinum Checkmark certification. It detected all samples in the last ten tests by Virus Bulletin, but missed VB100 certification in one test due to a single false positive.

Austrian lab AV-Comparatives puts antivirus products through a number of different kind of tests. They run an on-demand test to measure detection rates, and another on-demand test with deliberately outdated malware definitions to simulate detection of zero-day threats. The arduous whole product dynamic test challenges each product to block hundreds of malware attacks daily, for weeks, using any and all of its protective features. In all three of these test, Kaspersky rated ADVANCED+, the highest rating.

AV-Test puts antivirus products through a collection of static and dynamic tests in three categories: Protection, Repair, and Usability. Kaspersky earned 5.5 of 6 possible points in the first two categories and 5 points for usability. 11 of 18 possible points are needed for certification; with 16 points in the latest test Kaspersky is well beyond that minimum. Only Bitdefender Total Security 2013 scored higher, with 16.5 points.

Highly Accurate Phishing DetectionKaspersky PURE blocks access to known phishing sites; it also uses real-time analysis to detect brand-new fraudulent websites. A red warning indicates a known phishing site, while a yellow warning means the site was detected using heuristic analysis. This two-part phishing protection, very similar to what Norton 360 uses, proved extremely effective.

Very few products that promise phishing protection actually deliver. The SmartScreen Filter component of Internet Explorer 8 does a better job than two-thirds of them; that feature in Internet Explorer 9 and 10 is even more powerful. Kaspersky PURE's detection rate came in 24 percentage points ahead of IE alone.

I use Norton as a touchstone for phishing detection, because it consistently exhibits a high degree of accuracy. Kaspersky actual beat Norton by three percentage points. The only recent product to do better was McAfee Total Protection 2013, which beat Norton by four percentage points.

For a full explanation of where I get my super-fresh phishing URLs and how I calculate these scores, please see How We Test Antiphishing.

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips...
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